So Busy!!!!

So with Thanksgiving, a baby shower and moving I just have not had time to post lately. So...I am cheating and doing this at work while a have a few quiet minutes. I am hoping things will be settling down soon, but Christmas NEXT WEEK already, I really don't see that happening. I have posted a few more pics from our drive up Pikes Peak when Jenn, Mike and I went to Colorado Springs for Halloween. I will try to get pics of the new place up soon as well. ( I think I said that in an earlier post.) Also, when you breakup with someone how long should you wait before you start writing about a new person in your life? I think I'll just keep it to myself for a bit longer. Anyway, here are a few more pics for your enjoyment, and like I said I will try to post more soon.

Past Due Pics

So here are some pics of our Halloween weekend in Colorado Springs. Enjoy!

Too Much Fun!!!

Okay, so it's been a few weeks since my last post. But I am a very busy girl! Since my last post, I have been to Colorado TWICE, had another funeral, and working twice as hard trying to sell material at work, sicnce no one wants to spend any money. And on top of all of that I am in the process of moving this week. What am I doing in my spare time? Planning Amanads baby shower of course! Did I mention that Thanksgiving is this week? My dogs probably think I have forgotten about them.

A Cowgirl and her Pet

Tuesday night was the Trunk or Treat at the church so I went and met Amanda and the boys. It was fun to see all of the kids and the parents dressed up. I didn't think about it when I got dressed, but figured I should have some kind of costume. Brent was a Jedi, Teegan was an Incredible, and Jake was a cow. Not a bad pic of me either.

Jenn, Mike and I are off to Colorado this weekend to visit some friends, I can't wait. It's going to be cold but it's going to be so much fun. I will have pics next week.

LOSS OF A FRIEND

for those of you who check the blog and may not have heard yet, my exboyfriend, Vance (who I dated for 9 years) died Sunday in a dirt bike accident. If he had ever had a choice of how he would have wanted to leave this life, it would have been on his bike. He has been estranged from his family for about the last 10 years so his mom is really having a hard time. I have been in close contact with her, although we weren't together the last 3 years, I guess I am the one with the most information to offer. I know he and I had some pretty rough times there at the end of our relationship, but all I ever wanted was for him to find happiness, and didn't think I was the one who could give it to him. Please keep his family in your prayers as they try to deal with this loss and their grief. Not sure when services will be held, but he wouldn't have wanted a bunch of people standing around staring at him anyways! :)

New Name

Ok, so I had a really hard time coming up with a new name, but this one actually seems to fit. According to the girls as work, all of the guys I go out with are "projects". I got the name from a song by an artist named Julie Reeves. As far as I know she only put out one CD but it is a good song, and it is very reflective of my life. Anyway, hope you will still enjoy reading my odd and sometimes idiotic ramblings!

How much is that doggie in the win..bathtub???

Okay so I really write about my dogs alot, but I don't have kids like everyone else. This is not a bad thing! Over Labor Day weekend I met James at his folks house and took the dogs. It had been raining most of the day and when it finally quit the dogs couldn't wait to get outside and play. The only problem with this is, they eventually want to come back inside. So, they all had to have a bath.

Shower For Amanda

IT'S A GIRL...FINALLY!!!!!

JUST TO GIVE EVERYONE A

HEADS-UP

AMANDA'S SHOWER WILL BE

THE SATURDAY FOLLOWING

THANKSGIVING.

I'VE BEEN A BAD BAD GIRL!!!!

For those that don't know, the Jeep Liberty's have an issue with the mechanism that makes the automatic/power windows roll down. I have replaced 4 of these and had to pay for 2 in the past month. I decided I have had enough, and came home with this on Monday! It is so nice. And so perfect for me and the dogs. Can't wait to show it to Dad, who is in Alaska fishing (RUDE!). Anyway, it's brand new and I LOVE IT! They didn't have yellow so I had to settle for blue.l Carla called me a bad name, but she's just jealous.

Jack In The Box

Cleaning up old magazines last night and Jack thought he needed to check them out.

Dog Nap?

Who said anything about a "Cat" nap? We have dog naps!

So Confused!

Have you ever had nothing going on, but you still seem to be busy? How does that work? The past few weeks I have gone out to Boulder City to ride horses with a guy from work. At the arena there on Monday and Friday there's a bunch of people who get together and rope. So, I ride his horse before ropin' then go out and ride with a lady on Thursdays. Still trying to catch Cubs games and now FINALLY football! AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!! GO BRONCOS! Anyway, since I have been on the horses, I don't have pics. Carla - Quite calling me names! Hoping Jenn and I will be able to make a trip to Colorado soon, had a friend that opened a bar "Carey on Saloon" in Colorado Spings I can't wait to go check it out. Other than that, working alot and trying to stir up some interest in the house.

Family Reunion

Back from Colorado for a week, but just now finding time to get the few pic up that I have. Way too busy having fun to take pictures. It was so nice to get to visit with everyone. Can't wait to do it again.

It's In the Jeans

The past few weekends I have met James at his folks in Lakeside, AZ and we have gone over to James' brothers so the boys could rope. While at the arena I was complaining to James' sister in law that after 3 years I didn't have a single picture of James' and I together. Well, I should have know better. If you have ever looked at her blog (see Cowboys and Sunsets link on the right), you know she has a thing for her husbands butt. Well, it looks like James and I have been pulled into the mix. When I asked to try to get a few pics of us this wasn't exactly what I have in mind, but maybe it's my better side! Regardless, even though it's dusty, and you can go home filthy, we have a great time.

Ropin' Around

What a great weekend! I drove to Phoenix on Thursday and James and I went to his folks house for the holiday weekend. In the mountains, with the trees, the breeze, a little rain and a whole of cooler weather. Spent Saturday & Sunday at James' brothers new arena (see link to Cowboys, Kids & Sunsets) and watched "the boys" and James' niece rope. I have waited for 3 years to get the chance to see him rope. And to get to watch him with his brother and niece was a bonus! Saw a wreck on the way home, everyone was fine, but it was scary trying to get stopped while pulling a trailer with a horse in it. I'm glad James was driving. Will be headed back this week for big ropin' and party at the arena. I have decided I like being gone from this Vegas heat.

Krazy Kids

I know this is my second post today, but it is the day before a holiday so business is really slow. I bought a new camera for my trip to Mexico and James' kids thought they should give it a try. I don't take pics like Jen or Kim whose blogs I have linked to mine (you should take a look), but then I didn't actually take this picture myself. We were riding around Phoenix in the truck and the kids were goofing off and took this one of themselves.

THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER...

Since this post is about my grass, I had to type it in green. When James bought his parents house in Feburary of 2006 the grass was so nice. It was full and green, and there weren't any bare spots although their dog loved to push around a basketball or play fetch with any other kind of ball. Over the past few years, spots have started showing up that have died, and with my dogs-they have warn a few bare spots into the grass as well. Sooooo...Iwent to Home Depot (Hi Brit!) and picked up some seed and seeding soil along with some fertilizer and got to work. Here are some before pictures it will take a few weeks but I will post after pictures at a later date.

Old Mexico

Okay, so this post should have been put in a week ago, but I just didn't get to it. As I stated previously Jen and I went to Cabo, Mexico for her cousins wedding. We took a glass bottom boat

tour out to "The Arch". this is where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean. The weather was perfect, warm and sunny during the day and cool with a nice breeze at night. Have a great time, I had never been out of the country before. Jenn took a ton more pictures than I did but other than the Dolphins, this is all we really saw.

Muy Bien!

Back from Mexico, :( had a fantastic time, sat by the pool, sat by the ocean, make a couple visits to the spa. Went to Jennifers cousins wedding (the purpose for the trip). SWAM WITH THE DOLPHINS (awsome)!!!! It was fun to finally get a break from the everyday life, but as much as I hate to say it, if you get away from the resorts into the downtown area, Cabo is really rundown and kind of dirty looking. None the less, we had a ball! Got lots of sun, I think Jen got more than she really wanted. Visited the spa Wed night, swam with the Dolphins and had family dinner on Thursday. Friday night was the wedding. Saturday we hung out by the pool, went for a glass bottom boat ride to The Arch", saw pirahna and baracuda. Came home on Sunday. I know this is the condensed version but it would take forever to put in all of the details. I think the pics speak for themselves.

Okay, so it's been over a month since my last post, but I have been very busy!!! I have been working on the calendar, scrapbooking, running back and forth to Phoenix to see James, and playing with my dogs. And some days I even earn a paycheck! I am on my way to Mexico with Jennifer for her cousins wedding, you can be sure there will be plenty of pics to post in the coming weeks. Just wanted to let everyone know all is well, and I can't wait to see the finished product with the calendar.

Have I lost my mind???

Got a crazy idea to put together a "Nielsen" family calendar for the reunion in July. Amanda and I went to Cali to see Carla and work on this as well as another project. Who knew you could fit so many scrapbooking supplies in a Jeep?! But a good time was had by all, sorry Amanda and Carla have the pictures, I was too busy working (yeah right!) to be taking pictures all day. Other than that, not a whole lot going on the past few weeks. It's nice for a change, but James has contacted a realtor about the house so I will have plenty to keep me busy in the very near future.

Poison Ivy

No, I don't have, I was trying to come up with a witty title for this posting. James is getting ready to sell the house so I was trying to freshen up the front yard. We have a planter in the middle of the grass, and I had been told there were tulips and some other type of flowers planted, however, it looked like the stalk grew nothing ever bloomed. Needless to say they were ugly so I ripped them out and planted some new flowers on Saturday. Some violets, cosmos and some others, but I don't think I did too bad. The dogs sure seem to like them!

Holly hobby

My aunt Cathy left comments on my last posting and asked if I was still crocheting. So, in honor of the wonderful job she did teaching me, here is a blanket I have been working in for James' sister-in-law.

Gone to the Dogs

For lack of anything else to write about, and for the benefit of those who haven't seen them but might check out the blog, here are a few pics of my dogs. Both are Jack Russells, Stitch is the female with the brown on face and back. Jack is the male, brown only on his face. Jack is supposed to be James' dog, but we all know the truth! They keep me pretty entertained since James has moved to Phoenix to be closer to his kids. Hopefully I will one day be able to catch him off gaurd and get a picture of him on here.

Dinner with the Fam

According to my sisters the pink lettering is too hard to read, so let's try purple. Went to Dad's for dinner tonight. Took the boys a deck of cards and we had our first lesson in Go Fish! Teegan won, Brent and I tied. But had fun anyway.

New at Blogging

Well, I'm new at this blogging thing! It seems like everyone has one these things, so I gues it's time to get up to date! Not quite sure where to start.

I'm sure that Dad has probably kept most of the family up to date, but for those who might be on the outer reaches, in early 2007 during a regular eye appt. the doc and I started talking about options for surgery (lasik) and if I was a candidate. I was sent to a surgeon in our insurance plan after seeing a couple of specialists, (because if I'm going to have bad eyes, I am going to have BAD eyes) it was decided that I was not a candidate for lasik, nor was I a choice case for cataract type surgery where they replace your lens, it would take 2 to replace my 1, to get my vision corrected. Long story short, I was dead in the water. Went with new contacts instead. Then one day in May, 3 months later, and out of the blue, the angels decided it was my turn! I received a call from the eye surgeons office, he is part of a network of docs one of whom is one of the top in the country who does studies for the FDA. I had to go throught a battery of tests, then go to LA to meet the Dr. and go through more tests. Because I have had previos eye surgery, we had to ask for special qualification from the FDA, I was ACCEPTED! On October 10th I had the first surgery on the right eye, with the second surgery on the left eye on Jan 2nd. Now for the freaky part! I was part of an FDA study for Implantable contact lenses. Yes, they are in my eye, never to come out unless my vision changes (they can be replaced) . Come to find out a week before my first surgery, the doc thought he was done, they put a hold on the study to pursue a different product. I barely made it!

Now I just can't fo to sleep. I have spent 30 years with glasses and about 20 with contacts, now I have neither and I just want to stay up all night looking at the TV. I guess it could be worse. I have about 8 follow ups over 3 years and all I have to pay for is my travel to and from LA. WOO-HOO!

I also have two of the cutest, craziest dogs known to man. I have a male and a female Jack Russell, the male is deaf (very common with dogs that have a lot of white in their coat). But I love them anyway!

I have been dating a guy named James for 2 1/2 years, I live in the house in Henderson, and he has taken a job with a company in Phoenix to be closer to his two kids, daughter Jaimi - 12, son Tanner - 9. We have a ton of fun when all together.

My best friend Jenn, which many of you may have met at one time or another, moved in in December and it's amazing how different life is now that we're adults. On Friday nights we're lucky to make it to 9:00 be fore we're asleep on the couch or in the chair.

Her cousin is getting married in June in Cabo! SWEEEEET, bet you can't guess where I'll be? Don't worry I will get lots of pics to share.

I know this is alot, but it is my first time. By the way, my vision is now 20/25 and 20/30, previously 20/blind!